IP: France Invents Electronic Customs

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 18:16:52 -0500
From: denning () cs georgetown edu (Dorothy Denning)
Subject: France Invents Electronic Customs
To: farber () cis upenn edu
Content-MD5: KB8ktBTGoSgLrI7zl/zz8w==




The 27 February 1997 issue of Intelligence Newsletter reports on an
electronic converter developed in France.  The converter was developed
to serve as a bridge between two secure electronic payment schemes, the
Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) protocol developed mainly in the
U.S. and the C-SET protocol developed in France.  Whereas the SET
protocol is software-based, C-SET is based on smart cards.  (According
to France's Groupement des Cartes Bancaires, the amount of bank
card fraud in France is 100 times less than in the U.S. because of
their use of smart cards.)  The smart card, which is PIN-activated,
contains the user's private key and public-key certificate.  The
converter is a web server whose IP address in also on the smart card so
that the card can automatically link up with the converter when used.


In France, the issuer of the payment cards holds a copy of the user's
private key, serving as a trusted third party.  Because all financial
transactions must travel through the converter, the government can get
access to them when so authorized.  The SET/C-SET converter is scheduled
to begin operation in April.


The Intelligence Newslettter report also notes that the converter could
play the larger role of an electronic "customs post", which could reduce
customs fraud or money-laundering on the Internet.  If converters were
adopted by other countries, they could serve as national firewalls,
blocking external connections if an attack were detected.  To this, I
would add that in principle they could also be used to deal with
different national laws about the distribution of information on the
Internet.


For more information about the Intelligence Newsletter, which is
published by Indigo Publications in France, go to
http://www.indigo-net.com/intel.html.


Dorothy Denning